Modifying an appearance of a GUI to improve GUI usability

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9946437-B2
Application number	US-201514933008-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 5, 2015
Priority date	Nov 5, 2015
Publication date	Apr 17, 2018
Grant date	Apr 17, 2018

Abstract

A method, system, and/or computer program product modifies a graphical user interface (GUI) for an application to improve usability of the current GUI. One or more processors build a graphical user interface (GUI) neural knowledge base to capture GUIs used by multiple software applications based on a function, semantics, and context of captured GUIs. The processor(s) identify a current GUI that is utilized by a current software application, and match the current GUI to captured GUIs that have a same function, semantics, and context as the current GUI. The processor(s) identify a top-k active field used by the captured GUIs, and match a function of a current active field to a function of the top-k active field. If the visual appearance of the current active field does not match the visual appearance of the top-k active field, the processor(s) replace the current active field with the top-k active field.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A processor-implemented method for modifying a graphical user interface (GUI) for an application to improve GUI usability, the processor-implemented method comprising:
building, by one or more processors, a graphical user interface (GUI) neural knowledge base, wherein the GUI neural knowledge base captures GUIs used by multiple software applications based on a function, semantics, and context of captured GUIs;
identifying, by one or more processors, a current GUI that is utilized by a current software application;
matching, by one or more processors, the current GUI to captured GUIs that have a same function, semantics, and context of the current GUI;
identifying, by one or more processors, a top-k active field used by the captured GUIs;
matching, by one or more processors, a function of a current active field from the current GUI to a function of the top-k active field used by the captured GUIs; and
in response to the visual appearance of the current active field from the current GUI not matching the visual appearance of the top-k active field used by the captured GUIs, replacing, by one or more processors, the current active field with the top-k active field in the current GUI in order to improve usability of the current GUI.

2. The processor-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the current active field is an input field, and wherein the visual appearance of the input field is established by a text label displayed on the current GUI for the input field.

3. The processor-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the current active field is an activatable icon, and wherein the visual appearance of the icon is a visual representation of the activatable icon displayed on the current GUI.

4. The processor-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the current active field is an active field that is identified by a text label and the top-k active field is an icon, wherein the active field that is identified by the text label is replaced with the icon.

5. The processor-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:
replacing, by one or more processors, the current active field with the top-k active field in the current GUI by modifying string and layout extensible markup language (XML) script used to generate the current GUI.

6. The processor-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the current active field displays a text instruction in a first font, wherein the top-k active field displays the text instruction in a second font, and wherein replacing the current active field with the top-k active field in the current GUI is performed by applying the second font to the text instruction in the current active field.

7. The processor-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:
generating, by one or more processors, a correlation score between the current GUI and each GUI from the captured GUIs, wherein the correlation score is based on said matching the current GUI to captured GUIs based on having the same function, semantics, and context of the current GUI;
ranking, by one or more processors, each of the captured GUIs based on the correlation score; and
utilizing, by one or more processors, the top-k active field from a top-ranked GUI from the captured GUIs as a replacement for the current active field in the current GUI.

8. The processor-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the top-k active field is used more frequently than any other active fields in the captured GUIs to have the same function, semantics, and context of the current GUI.

9. The processor-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the current active field from the current GUI and the top-k active field used by the captured GUIs provide a same function.

10. The processor-implemented method of claim 9 , further comprising:
comparing, by one or more processors, a visual appearance of the current active field from the current GUI to the top-k active field used by the captured GUIs in order to determine whether the visual appearance of the current active field from the current GUI matches the top-k active field used by the captured GUIs.

11. A computer program product for modifying a graphical user interface (GUI) for an application to improve usability of the current GUI, the computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having program code embodied therewith, the program code readable and executable by a processor to perform a method comprising:
building a graphical user interface (GUI) neural knowledge base, wherein the GUI neural knowledge base captures GUIs used by multiple software applications based on a function, semantics, and context of captured GUIs;
identifying a current GUI that is utilized by a current software application;
matching the current GUI to captured GUIs that have a same function, semantics, and context of the current GUI;
identifying a top-k active field used by the captured GUIs;
matching a function of a current active field from the current GUI to a function of the top-k active field used by the captured GUIs; and
in response to the visual appearance of the current active field from the current GUI not matching the visual appearance of the top-k active field used by the captured GUIs, replacing the current active field with the top-k active field in the current GUI in order to improve usability of the current GUI.

12. The computer program product of claim 11 , wherein the current active field is an input field, and wherein the visual appearance of the input field is established by a text label displayed on the current GUI for the input field.

13. The computer program product of claim 11 , wherein the current active field is an activatable icon, and wherein the visual appearance of the icon is a visual representation of the activatable icon displayed on the current GUI.

14. The computer program product of claim 11 , wherein the current active field is an active field that is identified by a text label and the top-k active field is an icon, wherein the active field that is identified by the text label is replaced with the icon.

15. A computer system comprising:
a processor, a computer readable memory, and a non-transitory computer readable storage medium;
first program instructions to build a graphical user interface (GUI) neural knowledge base, wherein the GUI neural knowledge base captures GUIs used by multiple software applications based on a function, semantics, and context of captured GUIs;
second program instructions to identify a current GUI that is utilized by a current software application;
third program instructions to match the current GUI to captured GUIs that have a same function, semantics, and context of the current GUI;
fourth program instructions to identify a top-k active field used by the captured GUIs;
fifth program instructions to match a function of a current active field from the current GUI to a function of the top-k active field used by the captured GUIs; and
seventh program instructions to, in response to the visual appearance of the current active field from the current GUI not matching the visual appearance of the top-k active field used by the captured GUIs, replace the current active field with the top-k active field in the current GUI in order to improve usability of the current GUI; and wherein

the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh program instructions are stored on the non-transitory computer readable storage medium for execution by one or more processors via the computer readable memory.

16. The computer system of claim 15 , wherein the current active field is

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Anbil Parthipan Sarath C
• Ekambaram Vijay
• Rajput Nitendra
• Sridhara Giriprasad

Classifications

• G06N3/088

  Non-supervised learning, e.g. competitive learning · CPC title

• G06N5/022 Primary

  Knowledge engineering; Knowledge acquisition · CPC title

• G06F3/04817 Primary

  using icons (graphical or visual programming using iconic symbols G06F8/34) · CPC title

• G06N3/08

  Learning methods · CPC title